Penguins and Silencing Charms
by Annabelle4.0
Summary: ""You want to see even the freezing Arctic Circle? I am sure that penguins are interesting to look at," I tease. Alec gives a mock gasp, slapping a hand over the heart hidden by a midnight-hued jumper. "Are you saying," he says slowly, almost in disbelief. "The great curious Alice is not curious as to what penguins look like?"" Response to SkyeElf's Challenge: If I Die Young


**SkyeElf challenge:  
****Challenge for next Friday (11 April).  
****Fandom: Harry Potter  
****Prompt: If I die young  
****Restrictions: minimum of 1000 words**

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_Penguins and Silencing Charms_

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_May 16__th__, 1993_

"_What are you going to do after graduating from Hogwarts?"_

_The question catches me off guard, almost causing the heavy tome used for Potions to drop on the boy's head in my lap. Then again, he could most likely levitate it away from his face and deposit it onto the perpetually green grass next to us effortlessly._

"_I-I do not know," comes as a response, shaky and insecure. "I never really thought about it, just about exams and such."_

_A gentle chuckle floats in the air, causing me to redden slightly._

"_Hey!" I say in indignation, closing the book with a loud clap. "It is not like the Hogwarts curriculum gives us a career class or anything of the sort, just some advice a few weeks before the OWLS exams to "help us find the right path."" The last part is quoted directly from a bland black-printed pamphlet passed out yesterday during Transfiguration._

"_So what was your "advice" from Professor Sprout?" he says with a mocking air, his green eyes meeting blue ones as he looked up. _

"_The usual," I say, setting down the heavy book close to my right side before leaning back on small pale hands. ""Apply for a job in the Ministry, they have a plethora of occupations that would suit you,"" I mimic, saying in verbatim what the Herbology professor had suggested. The Ravenclaw boy lying down barely suppresses a chortle, disguising it as a cough before smiling._

"_And you, Alec?" I ask, curious as to what his given advice was._

"_If you must know, Alice," he sighs, starting to sit up. "Father had written ahead to let her know that I, as the sole immediate heir of the Bennett lineage, "cannot afford to waste time thinking about so-called careers when an occupational career has already been chosen." Ugh, as if I want to spend time running the family estates and trading business." He rolls his eyes upwards to the slightly shaggy blonde hair dangling right above his eyebrows._

_I barely hide a grin, agreeing with him silently. While the trades business does sound interesting, filling out paperwork does not seem to suit the active person I am currently conversing._

"_But what do you want to do after graduation?" I query, repeating the question he had given at the beginning. _

"_Touché," he responds, but answers anyway._

"_I want to travel, not on some __boring__ one-way ship, but __see __everything," arrives moments later as a conclusion to the inquiry._

"_You want to see even the freezing Arctic Circle? I am sure that penguins are interesting to look at," I tease._

_Alec gives a mock gasp, slapping a hand over the heart hidden by a midnight-hued jumper._

"_Are you saying," he says slowly, almost in disbelief. "The great curious Alice is not curious as to what penguins look like?"_

"_I already went there last summer," I respond, matter-of-factly. "They just waddled around, pecking each other to death while I had to use many heating charms."_

_He whistles, low and admiring._

"_Wow, must be wonderful to live without adults telling you what to do."_

"_True, but it gets lonely sometimes…" I manage to respond before trailing off, thinking about the time where I __did__ live with someone who cared before succumbing to paid hallucinations. _

_The Ravenclaw boy must have noticed my expression because he lowers his hand almost solemnly before parroting my position, our fingers almost touching._

"_I-I did not mean that," he stutters out, all fun and games gone._

"_I know you did, and I understand what you mean," I reassure him, collaborated with a weary smile. "It is tiring to hear someone tell you how to be responsible and follow this and that all the time when you already deal with it at school. It is just that, well," I could not finish my sentence. Instead, I stared out over the hills._

"_Well," he prompts._

"…_I think it would be nice if someone watched every step I took to make sure I did not do anything reckless."_

_Silence._

"…_but we could for each other."_

_I turn my head so quick that thick tendrils of black fell out of the messy bun my hair had been wrestled into this morning, my mouth, and eyes gaped wide. He gives a shrug, almost careless, as he avoids my stare._

"_Well, it is not like anyone back home really cares about me other than someone who will inherit the family fortune and you have no one. We might as well watch out for each other."_

_ "But-"_

_ "No, I will make sure th-"_

_ "Wh-"_

_ "I am sure grandfather would no-"_

_ "You are not lis-"_

_ "Of course, there is the tedious paperwork invo-"_

_ "__Silencio__!"_

_ Now it is his turn to glare at me for pulling a Silencing Charm on him._

_ "As I was saying," I continue, poking my wand at him as a reminder for why he was spelled into silence. "What will happen if either of us died young? Have you ever thought that through? If we try to commit something like this right now, without any idea as to what we will do as adults, then you might as well be writing your will, especially you! Just because you are a Ravenclaw student with Gryffindor parents does not mean you can go off on adventures without caution to the wind. You need to be practical and think things through and not be a hothead before you and I can really keep an eye out for each other. I mean, how can you even take care of me if you cannot take care of yourself?" _

_I stop, heaving slightly from my rant. He raised an eyebrow, almost as if he is asking, "Are you done yet?" I mutter a counter spell for the charm and he takes it for granted by talking all at once._

"_I was not talking about now! I meant to say it as a proposal of sorts that will start after we graduate, for goodness sakes! Since there are other relatives in the family who could take up the lineage, when I am seventeen, I can abdicate and take a small portion of the family fortune (I inwardly snort at this, more like money I can never make on my own in millions of years) to go off adventuring without having someone practically nanny me. While it is not everyone's favorable solution, it is one that will give me, give us, freedom. Freedom to be who we are meant to be, not just the Ravenclaw boy who met a Hufflepuff girl and had a brief fling – or whatever you call this – before he went off to lead a family empire while she visited the world and sent owls every six months and never visited! __I do not care if I have to wait months, days, or even, Merlin forbid, years to make your decision; I want to spend it with you, my best friend, the girl who did not make fun of me, the rich boy who spelled "manoeuvre" wrong. __The girl who told off the Slytherin bully for misspelling "youth" and needed to go back to Year 1. I __need__ to spend it with you, Alice Carter."_

_For several moments, awkward quiet stretches out between us, despite how close we are. Like an eggshell, it only took carefully weighted words to break it._

"_As much as I want to accept your offer__, I cannot right now__."_

_At first, he looks frustrated and about to explode. _

"_Not right now__," I remind him, causing his eyes to widen._

"_So… you will consider it?" he says, cautious that I am pulling a joke on him._

_I nod._

_His face breaks out into a smile and it seems as though rainbows have been found in the English backdrop of Hogwarts._

"_I-I a-am s-sure y-you w-will n-not r-regret__ i__-it!" he cheerfully stutters in excitement, standing up before he starts to hoot and holler. I blush madly, embarrassed at the thought of any member of Hogwarts's faculty or student population looking and seeing my friend acting like a complete loon. He stops, picks me up from the ground, and spins us around in a dizzying circle while I shriek at him to put me down. Eventually, he stops._

"_You," I pant from the fast actions that recently took place, "are going to make me die young if you keep this up!"_

_He grins, carefree as a dog._

"_In that case, you should learn how to be more adventurous if you are going to join me!"_

"_I only sai-"_

"_You are going to say yes and you know it!" he sang. "Oh, I am going to pen this moment in my imaginary diary right this very minute!" _

_He starts to run back to the castle and stops for a minute, as if he has forgotten something. Then he rushes back to me and, without any sort of warning, plants a kiss on my cheek. I feel what must be a heated red bloom from the very spot where his lips had touched._

"_Thank you," he whispers, almost reverently, before he starts for the castle again, whooping all the way and leaving me behind confused and stunned as someone who looked into the Basilisk's eyes through a reflection._

_May 6__th__, 1998_

I stand alone on a hillside, bare but for the grass and sprout planted there to mark the spot. The war ended four days ago, but I cannot just leave Hogwarts, my only home after years of living with a witch addicted to opium who was not even my real mum. I sit down next to the baby plant, not caring that my black mourner's dress is most likely going to be ruined, and stare out to the view I had looked at four years ago. A time before the OWLS and NEWTS were completed. Back before marriages and adoptions occurred, along with disownments and paperwork.

My hand skims over the golden band on my left hand, still just as shined and clean as the day Alec had proposed in the middle of the Arctic ("Penguins do waddle, but as much as I find them adorable, they are not as beautiful as the woman I am currently holding a ring out to and risking hypothermia for!"). Another hand covers it, stopping it from moving. I tilt my head up to see Alec, who had grown drastically over the years.

His hair had been shorn a few days ago so it would not bother him in the Hogwarts battle and he had shot up at least a foot a few years ago, but his eyes are still the same as ever and his expression never changed, even in such a serious moment such as this.

"Ready to go?" he asks. "After all, we do have some more things to see in case we die young of mistakes I highly doubt we will make," he said, summarily reminding me of the brief conversation we had after Hogwarts graduation, right here. He had asked me to come here, waiting with two magically extended tents, a large camera, a bright grin, and an official letter from the Daily Prophet stating that they would love to have me become a member of their newspaper staff, but need photographic proof that I had traveled to at least six countries.

At first, I was against it, but then he brought up how he promised years ago that he was going to keep an eye out for me, claiming this was his way of making sure I did not make any wrong decisions. After a half hour of pleading, whining, and stares from students and parents leaving, I had reluctantly agreed.

The next fortnight had been spent Apparating, taking trains, and going by Floo network to twenty different countries, setting a new record for most places visited by a member of the newspaper staff. Overall, I got my first permanent job in the most exciting way possible.

The only thing I regret about the entire experience is not saying "yes" right away. If anything, it has leaded me to several adoptions of children in need from countries much poorer than Great Britain and a bizarre wedding done successfully with gillyweed and waterproofing spells.

"Yes," I respond to his question, shifting so then our fingers intertwined. "I do believe we have children to pick up from your grandfather's home before heading off to the United States of America. Honestly, I am surprised he has not refused watching our children yet," I comment.

"That is because I am the only relative not after his money, actually has a spine and takes advantage of his youth," he jokes, gently jostling my side. "Not to mention I got lucky and married my wonderfully stunning best-friend-turned-girlfriend, whom he was familiar with."

"Keep it up and I might have to ground you from seeing the Lincoln memorial."

"Are you serious? I give you compliments and you threaten me with a child's punishment?"

"You need to learn when to stop or else someone will think you are up to some-"

"Ah, we need to go or else we will miss our portkey back home!"

"Alec, we are not done having this tal-"

"Just because you promised my parents that you would make sure I did not do anything reckless does not mean you can kiddy me, _mom._"

"I am not!"

"Oh, give it up, you know you are…"

"Fine, but I get to call shotgun in the cab."

"No fair!"

"Who has the driving directions to our hotel from our meeting spot and can pull at least a million hexes on you?"

"Fair point, although I do not think you would do that on your own husband, who is also your photographer."

Silence.

"_Silencio!"_

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**A/N: Aaaaaaaannnnnddddd…. CUT!**

**Hey guys, I know it has been about a YEAR since I have last posted anything, but I have good reasons. **

***crickets chirping***

**OK, scratch the good part because reasons for someone to stop working on something are NEVER good. Like, ever. In addition, the ones I am about to list are definitely not…**

**I lost interest Double Potter. Really. All I can remember now about the story is that it was something I started in sixth grade and had bazillion ideas for what would happen between Mary and the rest of the Harry Potter cast. Unfortunately, I never wrote down those ideas and started trying other different types of prose (original, poetry, etc.). Eventually, I drifted away from it. **

**Time. Time. TIME. It seems that ever since I had hit the two-year mark on this account, everyone demanded me to do other things. I would list my extracurricular activities, responsibilities, and average hours spent on homework here right now, but I am sure some of you guys will faint from reading it. All I can tell you is that everything else is coming before this and most likely will for a long time.**

**I know that this all translates to "I will not be working on Double Potter stories for a long time," but that does not mean I will not be crossing my fingers in hopes of nothing short of a miracle. I would wish you all to do the same, but I know all of you have things more important than a "deadbeat" writer to worry about, so I will not. If you could, then it would be wonderful, but if you cannot and/or do not want to, then that is fine by me. Just… please remember that things always pop up unexpectedly and hinder others from doing what they want to do. Please. That is all I ask of you. Thank you for taking the time to read this. **

**~Annabelle4.0**

**PS: As for the next time you will hear from me: Just be patient and see what will come out of the toaster.**


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